Palo Alto: Proposed mixed-use building draws concern from community

A three-story, mixed-used office building proposed at 385 Sherman Ave. in Palo Alto is too big and will exacerbate existing parking and traffic problems, according to residents who live nearby.

The 55,566-square-foot project from Daniel Minkoff would replace an existing one-story 21,600-square-foot office building. The plans call for three floors of commercial office space and four residential units overlooking Sarah Wallis Park.

The city's Architectural Review Board is slated to review the project when it meets Thursday.

More than a dozen residents have raised a myriad of concerns about the project in letters and emails to the city. Dwight Clark, who lives at Birch Court, said the proposed building's 45½-foot height combined with short setbacks would result in a loss of privacy and sunlight.

"The overarching point for me and my neighbors: the building is simply too massive," he wrote. "In a block made up of a city park and residences, it overwhelms everything else and simply is out of proportion with the neighborhood."

Others said it would exacerbate parking and traffic problems in the California Avenue area.

According to a report by Senior Planner Russ Reich, the project would provide the required amount of parking through an underground garage with 103 spaces and by continuing to pay into a parking assessment district for 70 spaces.

"The number provided is not even close to the number of spaces a building of that size will require to provide parking for the tenants and people visiting the tenants," wrote Terry Shuchat, the owner of Keeble & Shuchat Photography, a camera store at 290 California Ave.

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A transportation impact assessment by Fehr & Peers in May, meanwhile, found that nearby intersections would continue to operate at acceptable levels of service if the project is built.

Kevin Kiser, another resident of Birch Court, isn't convinced.

"The studies show that the extra daily traffic generated by the larger building floor space will result in 'acceptable' levels of added delay to commuters in the streets surrounding the site area -- these delays are estimated to be on the order of a half second to a second, and while that doesn't seem like much, this is multiplied by the total number of commuters, the number of intersections, the number of hours in the work day, and the number of works days in the year," he wrote.

"After all that, the amount of time stolen from commuters each year so this building can exist is enormous!"

The impact of construction on public health was another concern. Mary Ryan, a resident of the 300 block of Grant Road, said no one knows just how contaminated the site is from a toxic plume. She suggested that dust from excavated soil could sicken people dining at nearby restaurants.

"In addition, 385 Sherman is directly across the street from the parking lot where hundreds of women and new mothers park to attend the over 125 classes held at the Blossom Birth center each month," she wrote. "There is no way to assure the safety of these pregnant women, new mothers and babies if you don't know the current levels of toxicity at the site."

A handful of residents, however, offered praise. Tom Johanix, who lives in the Barron Park neighborhood, said it was refreshing to see a project that conforms to the existing zoning.

"Given the recent excitement in Palo Alto regarding development, it's important to stand by development projects that are carefully planned, well-designed and fit with existing surroundings," he wrote. "The proposed project at 385 Sherman is a good fit for Palo Alto."

The plans also call for the removal of 14 trees and the relocation of two coast live oaks to a planter on Ash Street. Eight trees would subsequently be planted along Sherman Avenue and another seven would be planted on the site between the new building and Birch Court.